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ABSTRACT
Competencies are more enduring than job tasks. Competencies focus on the characteristics of people who are
successful or unsuccessful performing the work. Competencies are part of people, not the work they do.
Competencies do better in pinpointing the unique characteristics of people that lead to success. This has been
overlooked or poorly identified in most traditional job descriptions, which typically have a brief list of
knowledge, skills, and abilities that may not be specific to the job and may only cover technical skills. If
developing talent is critical to the future success of organizations, then understanding and using competencies to
create a more talented workforce is key to maintaining a competitive edge. Learning and performance
professionals have an important role to play in this future success through the use of competencies. Authors
goal is to address this competency mapping so that managers can put this powerful, productivity-enhancing tool
to work in organizations for the purpose of sustainable growth while obtaining competitive edge continuously.
Keywords: Sustainable growth, competitive edge, progress in current scenario, performance development etc.
INTRODUCTION
Competency mapping is a process and a system for identifying key competencies for a particular
position and then using it for sustainable growth. Competency is a formidable weapon in the
bulletproof vest of organizations to create performance excellence. Level of human resource
competency reflects in the core competence of an organization. To what extent and depth, an
organization can optimize its physical resources like infrastructure, technology, capital, product lines,
brand value, distribution and marketing network and to what length an organization can exploit
emerging and existing markets, opportunities of business environment and leverage societal changes
will be dependent upon the reservoir of human competency an organization builds. Fortunately, of
late a good number of organizations have realized the strategic significance and unique advantage of
competency-based management in attaining employee and organizational objectives. Recent studies
however, establish that quite a few organizations are hesitant to adopt the competency-based
management system due to complexity and intricacy of building the most relevant, pragmatic and
business aligned competency models. Other apprehensions are:
(i) evolving competency model is cost intensive and returns are not proportionate,
(ii) life cycle of a competency model is either short or loses its relevance quickly,
(iii) it generates more problems than it resolves and
(iv) is required only in manufacturing organizations in the -competitive sector.
These apprehensions are more of suspicion in nature rather than doubts drawn from experiences or
logical analysis of data. Benchmarking practices in the area of competency profiling and management
highlights stupendous gains and positive results that organizations can receive. Study of competency
management history, approaches, practices, and evaluation clearly points out that organizational
inertia coupled with inadequate aptitude of managers is the dominant reason for their suspicious
perception rather than realistic understanding and experience with competency-based management.
An attempt is made to clarify all these issues apart from enabling managers to practice competency-
*Address for correspondence:
dr.munakalyani@yahoo.com
International Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Studies V3 I3 March 2016 18
Dr. Muna Kalyani Competency Mapping Process in Current Scenario: A Need for Sustainable Growth
based performance management in forthcoming contents. Strategy of competency management
consists of two interventions: first intervention titled nurturing competency-based performance
management and the second intervention, i.e. capitalizing on competency management in
institutionalization of performance management.
COMPETENCY MANAGEMENT
Competency management, even though yet to acquire a universally accepted definition, may be
defined as a comprehensive human resource strategy that identifies and builds the most relevant
competencies to facilitate peak employee and organizational performance. Competency management
in the context of performance management encompasses six steps as indicated below:
1. Process of identifying critical, routine and supplementary knowledge, skills and characteristics
required for performing a role effectively.
2. Process of identifying fundamental, medium and advanced level knowledge, skills and
characteristics required by an employee to manage variety of functions/departments in an
organization.
3. Process of identifying fundamental, medium and advanced knowledge, ,skills and characteristics
required to lead an organization.
4. Grouping, classifying and defining steps 1, 2 and 3 into organization, function and role specific
competency models.
5. Using articulated and customized competency model to nurture competency-based performance
management.
6. Using competency-based performance management in institutionalization of performance
management strategies like reward, career, leadership, measurement, culture, and team based.
A well-established and proven methodology can be used in execution of the above steps.
SIGNIFICANCE OF COMPETENCY
Competency-based performance management helps organizations in accomplishment of their vision,
mission and objectives. This achievement is possible because competency management enhances
worth of human capital by evolving distinct and inimitable human competencies. Enriched human
capital optimizes other organizational resources and leverages the existing strengths for organizational
growth. Though competency management is potent enough to create indelible, positive and
contributory impact on all organizational activities, a few of the essential advantages are indicated
below. A renowned journal in the area of competency management, Competency identified the
following 10 most significant reasons and purposes for adopting competency approach to their
performance management:
1. Performance
2. Culture change
3. Training and development
4. Recruitment and selection
5. Business objectives/Competitiveness
6. Career/Succession planning
7. Skills analysis
8. Flexibility
9. Clarity of role
10. Integrating human resource strategy
This clearly brings forth the linkage of competency to performance of employees as competency
indicates 'what the employee can do or has the ability to do' and performance indicates 'what the
employee does'. Performance is the stage where assignment of work and responsibilities in
commensuration with the ability to deliver is made. Appropriate design of role and responsibility sets